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This  story  is  taken  from  Mr.  Allen's 
book,  Flute  and  Violin,  published  by 
Harper  &  Brothers. 


TWO  GENTLEMEN 
OF  KENTUCKY 

By 

James  Lane  Allen 


NEW     YORK     AND     LONDON 

HARPER    6-    BROTHERS 

MD C  CC  XC I X 


Copyright,  1891,  iS99.  by  HARPER  &  BROTHFRS. 

All  rights  reserved. 


/Sff 


Oentlemen  of  Ifcentucfcs 


"  The  woods  are  hushed,  their  music  is  no  more : 
The  leaf  is  dead,  the  yearning  passed  away: 
New  leaf,  new  life— the  days  of  frost  are  o'er: 
New  life,  new  love,  to  suit  the  newer  day." 


THE   WOODS  ARE   HUSHED 

IT  was  near  the  middle  of  the 
afternoon  of  an  autumnal  day,  on 
the  wide,  grassy  plateau  of  Central 
Kentucky. 

The  Eternal  Power  seemed  to 
have  quitted  the  universe  and  left 
all  nature  folded  in  the  calm  of  the 
Eternal  Peace.  Around  the  pale- 
blue  dome  of  the  heavens  a  few 
pearl-colored  clouds  hung  motion 
less,  as  though  the  wind  had  been 
withdrawn  to  other  skies.  Not  a 
crimson  leaf  floated  downward 
through  the  soft,  silvery  light  that 

237630 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

filled  the  atmosphere  and  created 
the  sense  of  lonely,  unimaginable 
spaces.  This  light  overhung  the 
far-rolling  landscape  of  field  and 
meadow  and  wood,  crowning  with 
faint  radiance  the  remoter  low- 
swelling  hill -tops  and  deepening 
into  dreamy  half-shadows  on  their 
eastern  slopes.  Nearer,  it  fell  in  a 
white  flake  on  an  unstirred  sheet  of 
water  which  lay  along  the  edge  of  a 
mass  of  sombre-hued  woodland,  and 
nearer  still  it  touched  to  spring-like 
brilliancy  a  level,  green  meadow  on 
the  hither  edge  of  the  water,  where 
a  group  of  Durham  cattle  stood 
with  reversed  flanks  near  the  gleam 
ing  trunks  of  some  leafless  syca 
mores.  Still  nearer,  it  caught  the 
top  of  the  brown  foliage  of  a  little 
bent  oak-tree  and  burned  it  into  a 
silvery  flame.  It  lit  on  the  back 
and  the  wings  of  a  crow  flying  heav 
ily  in  the  path  of  its  rays,  and  made 
his  blackness  as  white  as  the  breast 


THE  WOODS  ARE  HUSHED 

of  a  swan.  In  the  immediate  fore 
ground,  it  sparkled  in  minute 
gleams  along  the  stalks  of  the 
coarse,  dead  weeds  that  fell  away 
from  the  legs  and  the  flanks  of  a 
white  horse,  and  slanted  across  the 
face  of  the  rider  and  through  the 
ends  of  his  gray  hair,  which  strag 
gled  from  beneath  his  soft  black  hat. 

The  horse,  old  and  patient  and 
gentle,  stood  with  low -stretched 
neck  and  closed  eyes  half  asleep  in 
the  faint  glow  of  the  waning  heat ; 
and  the  rider,  the  sole  human  pres 
ence  in  all  the  field,  sat  looking 
across  the  silent  autumnal  land 
scape,  sunk  in  reverie.  Both  horse 
and  rider  seemed  but  harmonious 
elements  in  the  panorama  of  still- 
life,  and  completed  the  picture  of  a 
closing  scene. 

To  the  man  it  was  a  closing  scene. 

From  the  rank,  fallow  field  through 

which  he  had  been  riding  he  was 

now  surveying,  for  the  last  time,  the 

3 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

many  features  of  a  landscape  that 
had  been  familiar  to  him  from  the 
beginning  of  memory.  In  the  af 
ternoon  and  the  autumn  of  his  age 
he  was  about  to  rend  the  last  ties 
that  bound  him  to  his  former  life, 
and,  like  one  who  had  survived  his 
own  destiny,  turn  his  face  towards 
a  future  that  was  void  of  everything 
he  held  significant  or  dear. 

The  Civil  War  had  only  the  year 
before  reached  its  ever-memorable 
close.  From  where  he  sat  there 
was  not  a  home  in  sight,  as  there 
was  not  one  beyond  the  reach  of  his 
vision,  .but  had  felt  its  influence. 
Some  of  his  neighbors  had  come 
home  from  its  camps  and  prisons, 
aged  or  altered  as  though  by  half  a 
lifetime  of  years.  The  bones  of 
some  lay  whitening  on  its  battle 
fields.  Families,  reassembled  around 
their  hearth -stones,  spoke  in  low 
tones  unceasingly  of  defeat  and  vic 
tory,  heroism  and  death.  Suspicion 
4 


THE    WOODS  ARE  HUSHED 

and  distrust  and  estrangement  pre 
vailed.  Former  friends  met  each 
other  on  the  turnpikes  without 
speaking ;  brothers  avoided  each 
other  in  the  streets  of  the  neigh 
boring  town.  The  rich  had  grown 
poor;  the  poor  had  become  rich. 
Many  of  the  latter  were  preparing 
to  move  West.  The  negroes  were 
drifting  blindly  hither  and  thither, 
deserting  the  country  and  flocking 
to  the  towns.  Even  the  once  unit 
ed  church  of  his  neighborhood  was 
jarred  by  the  unstrung  and  discord 
ant  spirit  of  the  times.  At  affect 
ing  passages  in  the  sermons  men 
grew  pale  and  set  their  teeth  fierce 
ly  ;  women  suddenly  lowered  their 
black  veils  and  rocked  to  and  fro 
in  their  pews;  for  it  is  always  at 
the  bar  of  Conscience  and  before 
the  very  altar  of  God  that  the  hu 
man  heart  is  most  wrung  by  a  sense 
of  its  losses  and  the  memory  of  its 
wrongs.  The  war  had  divided  the 
5 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

people  of  Kentucky  as  the  false 
mother  would  have  severed  the 
child. 

It  had  not  left  the  old  man  un 
scathed.  His  younger  brother  had 
fallen  early  in  the  conflict,  borne  to 
the  end  of  his  brief  warfare  by  his 
impetuous  valor;  his  aged  mother 
had  sunk  under  the  tidings  of  the 
death  of  her  latest-born  ;  his  sister 
was  estranged  from  him  by  his  po 
litical  differences  with  her  husband; 
his  old  family  servants,  men  and 
women,  had  left  him,  and  grass  and 
weeds  had  already  grown  over  the 
door -steps  of  the  shut,  noiseless 
cabins.  Nay,  the  whole  vast  social 
system  of  the  old  regime  had  fallen, 
and  he  was  henceforth  but  a  useless 
fragment  of  the  ruins. 

All  at  once  his  mind  turned  from 
the  cracked  and  smoky  mirror  of 
the  times  and  dwelt  fondly  upon 
the  scenes  of  the  past.  The  silent 
fields  around  him  seemed  again 
6 


THE    WOODS  ARE  HUSHED 

alive  with  the  negroes,  singing  as 
they  followed  the  ploughs  down 
the  corn-rows  or  swung  the  cradles 
through  the  bearded  wheat.  Again, 
in  a  frenzy  of  merriment,  the  strains 
of  the  old  riddles  issued  from  crev 
ices  of  cabin-doors  to  the  rhythmic 
beat  of  hands  and  feet  that  shook 
the  rafters  and  the  roof.  Now  he 
was  sitting  on  his  porch,  and  one 
little  negro  was  blacking  his  shoes, 
another  leading  his  saddle-horse  to 
the  stiles,  a  third  bringing  his  hat, 
and  a  fourth  handing  him  a  glass  of 
ice-cold  sangaree  ;  or  now  he  lay 
under  the  locust-trees  in  his  yard, 
falling  asleep  in  the  drowsy  heat  of 
the  summer  afternoon,  while  one 
waved  over  him  a  bough  of  pun 
gent  walnut  leaves,  until  he  lost 
consciousness,  and  by-and-by  awoke 
to  find  that  they  both  had  fallen 
asleep  side  by  side  on  the  grass  and 
that  the  abandoned  fly -brush  lay 
full  across  his  face. 
7 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

From  where  he  sat  also  were 
seen  slopes  on  which  picnics  were 
danced  under  the  broad  shade  of 
maples  and  elms  in  June  by  those 
whom  death  and  war  had  scattered 
like  the  transitory  leaves  that  once 
had  sheltered  them.  In  this  direc 
tion  lay  the  district  school -house 
where  on  Friday  evenings  there 
were  wont  to  be  speeches  and  de 
bates  ;  in  that,  lay  the  blacksmith's 
shop  where  of  old  he  and  his  neigh 
bors  had  met  on  horseback  of  Sat 
urday  afternoons  to  hear  the  news, 
get  the  mails,  discuss  elections,  and 
pitch  quoits.  In  the  valley  beyond 
stood  the  church  at  which  all  had 
assembled  on  calm  Sunday  morn 
ings  like  the  members  of  one  united 
family.  Along  with  these  scenes 
went  many  a  chastened  reminis 
cence  of  bridal  and  funeral  and  sim 
pler  events  that  had  made  up  the 
annals  of  his  country  life. 

The  reader  will  have  a  clearer  in- 
8 


THE  WOODS  ARE  HUSHED 

sight  into  the  character  and  past 
career  of  Colonel  Romulus  Fields 
by  remembering  that  he  repre 
sented  a  fair  type  of  that  social  or 
der  which  had  existed  in  rank  per 
fection  over  the  blue-grass  plains  of 
Kentucky  during  the  final  decades 
of  the  old  regime.  Perhaps  of  all 
agriculturists  in  the  United  States 
the  inhabitants  of  that  region  had 
spent  the  most  nearly  idyllic  life, 
on  account  of  the  beauty  of  the  cli 
mate,  the  richness  of  the  land,  the 
spacious  comfort  of  their  homes, 
the  efficiency  of  their  negroes,  and 
the  characteristic  contentedness  of 
their  dispositions.  Thus  nature  and 
history  combined  to  make  them  a 
peculiar  class,  a  cross  between  the 
aristocratic  and  the  bucolic,  being 
as  simple  as  shepherds  and  as  proud 
as  kings,  and  not  seldom  exhibiting 
among  both  men  and  women  types 
of  character  which  were  as  remark 
able  for  pure,  tender,  noble  states  of 
9 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

feeling  as  they  were  commonplace 
in  powers  and  cultivation  of  mind. 
It  was  upon  this  luxurious  social 
growth  that  the  war  naturally  fell 
as  a  killing  frost,  and  upon  no  sin 
gle  specimen  with  more  blighting 
power  than  upon  Colonel  Fields. 
For  destiny  had  quarried  and  chis 
elled  him,  to  serve  as  an  ornament 
in  the  barbaric  temple  of  human 
bondage.  There  were  ornaments  in 
that  temple,  and  he  was  one.  A 
slave-holder  with  Southern  sympa 
thies,  a  man  educated  not  beyond 
the  ideas  of  his  generation,  con 
vinced  that  slavery  was  an  evil,  yet 
seeing  no  present  way  of  removing 
it,  he  had  of  all  things  been  a  model 
master.  As  such  he  had  gone  on 
record  in  Kentucky,  and  no  doubt 
in  a  Higher  Court ;  and  as  such  his 
efforts  had  been  put  forth  to  secure 
the  passage  of  many  of  those  milder 
laws  for  which  his  State  was  distin 
guished.  Often,  in  those  dark  days, 


THE   WOODS  ARE  HUSHED 

his  face,  anxious  and  sad,  was  to  be 
seen  amid  the  throng  that  sur 
rounded  the  blocks  on  which  slaves 
were  sold  at  auction ;  and  more  than 
one  poor  wretch  he  had  bought  to 
save  him  from  separation  from  his 
family  or  from  being  sold  into  the 
Southern  plantations  —  afterwards 
riding  far  and  near  to  find  him  a 
home  on  one  of  the  neighboring 
farms. 

But  all  those  days  were  over. 
He  had  but  to  place  the  whole  pict 
ure  of  the  present  beside  the  whole 
picture  of  the  past  to  realize  what 
the  contrast  meant  for  him. 

At  length  he  gathered  the  bridle 
reins  from  the  neck  of  his  old  horse 
and  turned  his  head  homeward.  As 
he  rode  slowly  on,  every  spot  gave 
up  its  memories.  He  dismounted 
when  he  came  to  the  cattle  and 
walked  among  them,  stroking  their 
soft  flanks  and  feeling  in  the  palm 
of  his  hand  the  rasp  of  their  salt- 
ii 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

loving  tongues;  on  his  sideboard  at 
home  was  many  a  silver  cup  which 
told  of  premiums  on  cattle  at  the 
great  fairs.  It  was  in  this  very 
pond  that  as  a  boy  he  had  learned 
to  swim  on  a  cherry  rail.  When 
he  entered  the  woods,  the  sight  of 
the  walnut-trees  and  the  hickory- 
nut  trees,  loaded  on  the  topmost 
branches,  gave  him  a  sudden  pang. 
Beyond  the  woods  he  came  upon 
the  garden,  which  he  had  kept  as 
his  mother  had  left  it — an  old-fash 
ioned  garden  with  an  arbor  in  the 
centre,  covered  with  Isabella  grape 
vines  on  one  side  and  Catawba  on 
the  other ;  with  walks  branching 
thence  in  four  directions,  and  along 
them  beds  of  jump -up -johnnies, 
sweet-williams,  daffodils,  sweet-peas, 
larkspur,  and  thyme,  flags  and  the 
sensitive -plant,  celestial  and  maid 
en's- blush  roses.  He  stopped  and 
looked  over  the  fence  at  the  very 
spot  where  he  had  found  his  mother 
12 


THE    WOODS  ARE  HUSHED 

on  the  day  when  the  news  of  the 
battle  came. 

She  had  been  kneeling,  trowel  in 
hand,  driving  away  vigorously  at 
the  loamy  earth,  and,  as  she  saw 
him  coming,  had  risen  and  turned 
towards  him  her  face  with  the  an 
cient  pink  bloom  on  her  clear  cheeks 
and  the  light  of  a  pure,  strong  soul 
in  her  gentle  eyes.  Overcome  by 
his  emotions,  he  had  blindly  fal 
tered  out  the  words,  "  Mother,  John 
was  among  the  killed !"  For  a  mo 
ment  she  had  looked  at  him  as 
though  stunned  by  a  blow.  Then 
a  violent  flush  had  overspread  her 
features,  and  then  an  ashen  pallor ; 
after  which,  with  a  sudden  proud 
dilating  of  her  form  as  though  with 
joy,  she  had  sunk  down  like  the 
tenderest  of  her  lily-stalks  cut  from 
its  root. 

Beyond  the  garden  he  came  to 
the  empty  cabin  and  the  great 
wood  -  pile.  At  this  hour  it  used  to 
13 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

be  a  scene  of  hilarious  activity — the 
little  negroes  sitting  perched  in  chat 
tering  groups  on  the  topmost  logs  or 
playing  leap-frog  in  the  dust,  while 
some  picked  up  baskets  of  chips  or 
dragged  a  back-log  into  the  cabins. 
At  last  he  drew  near  the  wooden 
stiles  and  saw  the  large  house  of 
which  he  was  the  solitary  occupant. 
What  darkened  rooms  and  noise 
less  halls!  What  beds,  all  ready, 
that  nobody  now  came  to  sleep  in, 
and  cushioned  old  chairs  that  no 
body  rocked !  The  house  and  the 
contents  of  its  attic,  presses,  and 
drawers  could  have  told  much  of 
the  history  of  Kentucky  from  al 
most  its  beginning ;  for  its  founda 
tions  had  been  laid  by  his  father 
near  the  beginning  of  the  century, 
and  through  its  doors  had  passed  a 
long  train  of  forms,  from  the  veter 
ans  of  the  Revolution  to  the  sol 
diers  of  the  Civil  War.  Old  coats 
hung  up  in  closets;  old  dresses 


THE    WOODS  ARE  HUSHED 

folded  away  in  drawers ;  saddle 
bags  and  buckskin  leggings;  hunt 
ing  -  jackets,  powder  -  horns,  and 
militiamen  hats ;  looms  and  knit 
ting-needles;  snuff-boxes  and  reti 
cules — what  a  treasure-house  of 
the  past  it  was !  And  now  the  only 
thing  that  had  the  springs  of  life 
within  its  bosom  was  the  great, 
sweet -voiced  clock,  whose  faithful 
face  had  kept  unchanged  amid  all 
the  swift  pageantry  of  changes. 

He  dismounted  at  the  stiles  and 
handed  the  reins  to  a  gray -haired 
negro,  who  had  hobbled  up  to  re 
ceive  them  with  a  smile  and  a  gest 
ure  of  the  deepest  respect. 

"  Peter,"  he  said,  very  simply,  "  I 
am  going  to  sell  the  place  and  move 
to  town.  I  can't  live  here  any 
longer." 

With  these  words  he  passed 
through  the  yard-gate,  walked  slow 
ly  up  the  broad  pavement,  and  en 
tered  the  house. 

15 


MUSIC    NO    MORE 

ON  the  disappearing  form  of  the 
colonel  was  fixed  an  ancient  pair  of 
eyes  that  looked  out  at  him  from 
behind  a  still  more  ancient  pair  of 
silver-rimmed  spectacles  with  an  ex 
pression  of  indescribable  solicitude 
and  love. 

These  eyes  were  set  in  the  head 
of  an  old  gentleman — for  such  he 
was — named  Peter  Cotton,  who  was 
the  only  one  of  the  colonel's  former 
slaves  that  had  remained  insepa 
rable  from  his  person  and  his  al 
tered  fortunes.  In  early  manhood 
Peter  had  been  a  wood -chopper ; 
but  he  had  one  day  had  his  leg 
broken  by  the  limb  of  a  falling 
tree,  and  afterwards,  out  of  consid 
eration  for  his  limp,  had  been  made 
16 


MUSIC  NO  MORE 

supervisor  of  the  wood -pile,  gar 
dener,  and  a  sort  of  nondescript  ser 
vitor  of  his  master's  luxurious  needs. 
Nay,  in  larger  and  deeper  charac 
ters  must  his  history  be  writ,  he  hav 
ing  been,  in  days  gone  by,  one  of 
those  ministers  of  the  gospel  whom 
conscientious  Kentucky  masters 
often  urged  to  the  exercise  of  spirit 
ual  functions  in  behalf  of  their  be 
nighted  people.  In  course  of  prep 
aration  for  this  august  work,  Peter 
had  learned  to  read,  and  had  come 
to  possess  a  well-chosen  library  of 
three  several  volumes — Webster's 
Spelling-book,  The  Pilgrims  Progress, 
and  the  Bible.  But  even  these  un 
usual  acquisitions  he  deemed  not 
enough;  for  being  touched  with  a 
spark  of  poetic  fire  from  heaven,  and 
fired  by  the  African's  fondness  for 
all  that  is  conspicuous  in  dress,  he 
had  conceived  for  himself  the  cre 
ation  of  a  unique  garment  which 
should  symbolize  in  perfection  the 
B  17 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

claims  and  consolations  of  his  apos 
tolic  office.  This  was  nothing  less 
than  a  sacred  blue-jeans  coat  that 
he  had  had  his  old  mistress  make 
him,  with  very  long  and  spacious 
tails,  whereon,  at  his  further  direc 
tion,  she  embroidered  sundry  texts 
of  Scripture  which  it  pleased  him 
to  regard  as  the  fit  visible  annunci 
ations  of  his  holy  calling.  And  in 
asmuch  as  his  mistress,  who  had  had 
the  coat  woven  on  her  own  looms 
from  the  wool  of  her  finest  sheep, 
was,  like  other  gentlewomen  of  her 
time,  rarely  skilled  in  the  accomplish 
ments  of  the  needle,  and  was  more 
over  in  full  sympathy  with  the  piety 
of  his  intent,  she  wrought  of  these 
passages  a  border  enriched  with 
such  intricate  curves,  marvellous 
flourishes,  and  harmonious  letter 
ings,  that  Solomon  never  reflected 
the  glory  in  which  Peter  was  arrayed 
whenever  he  put  it  on.  For  after 
much  prayer  that  the  Almighty 
18 


MUSIC  NO  MORE 

wisdom  would  aid  his  reason  in  the 
difficult  task  of  selecting  the  most 
appropriate  texts,  Peter  had  chosen 
seven — one  for  each  day  in  the  week 
— with  such  tact,  and  no  doubt 
heavenly  guidance,  that  when  braid 
ed  together  they  did  truly  constitute 
an  eloquent  epitome  of  Christian 
duty,  hope,  and  pleading. 

From  first  to  last  they  were  as 
follows :  "  Woe  is  unto  me  if  I 
preach  not  the  gospel;"  " Servants, 
be  obedient  to  them  that  are  your 
masters  according  to  the  flesh ;" 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour 
and  are  heavy  laden  ;"  "  Consider 
the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow  ; 
they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin  ;" 
"Now  abideth  faith,  hope,  and 
chanty,  these  three ;  but  the  greatest 
of  these  is  chanty ;"  "  I  would  not 
have  you  to  be  ignorant,  brethren, 
concerning  them  which  are  asleep;" 
"  For  as  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in 
Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  This 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

concatenation  of  texts  Peter  wished 
to  have  duly  solemnized,  and  there 
fore,  when  the  work  was  finished,  he 
further  requested  his  mistress  to 
close  the  entire  chain  with  the  word 
"Amen,"  introduced  in  some  suit 
able  place. 

But  the  only  spot  now  left  vacant 
was  one   of   a   few   square   inches, 


located  just  where  the  coat-tails 
hung  over  the  end  of  Peter's  spine; 
so  that  when  any  one  stood  full  in 
Peter's  rear,  he  could  but  marvel  at 
the  sight  of  so  solemn  a  word  em 
blazoned  in  so  unusual  a  locality. 

Panoplied  in  this  robe  of  right' 
eousness,  and  with  a  worn  leathern 
Bible  in  his  hand,  Peter  used  to  go 
around  of  Sundays,  and  during  the 
week  by  night,  preaching  from 
cabin  to  cabin  the  gospel  of  his 
heavenly  Master. 

The  angriest  lightnings  of  the 
sultriest  skies  often  played  amid  the 
darkness  upon  those  sacred  coat-tails 

20 


MUSIC  NO  MORE 

and  around  that  girdle  of  everlast 
ing  texts,  as  though  the  evil  spirits 
of  the  air  would  fain  have  burned 
them  and  scattered  their  ashes  on 
the  roaring  winds.  The  slow-sifting 
snows  of  winter  whitened  them  as 
though  to  chill  their  spiritual  fires; 
but  winter  and  summer,  year  after 
year,  in  weariness  of  body,  often  in 
sore  distress  of  mind,  for  miles  along 
this  lonely  road  and  for  miles  across 
that  rugged  way,  Peter  trudged  on 
and  on,  withal  perhaps  as  meek  a 
spirit  as  ever  grew  foot-sore  in  the 
paths  of  its  Master.  Many  a  poor 
overburdened  slave  took  fresh  heart 
and  strength  from  the  sight  of  that 
celestial  raiment;  many  a  stubborn, 
rebellious  spirit,  whose  flesh  but 
lately  quivered  under  the  lash,  was 
brought  low  by  its  humble  teaching; 
many  a  worn-out  old  frame,  racked 
with  pain  in  its  last  illness,  pressed 
a  fevered  lip  to  its  hopeful  hem; 
and  many  a  dying  eye  closed  in 

21 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

death  peacefully  fixed  on  its  immor 
tal  pledges. 

When  Peter  started  abroad,  if  a 
storm  threatened,  he  carried  an  old 
cotton  umbrella  of  immense  size ; 
and  as  the  storm  burst,  he  gathered 
the  tails  of  his  coat  carefully  up 
under  his  armpits  that  they  might 
be  kept  dry.  Or  if  caught  by  a 
tempest  without  his  umbrella,  he 
would  take  his  coat  off  and  roll  it 
up  inside  out,  leaving  his  body  ex 
posed  to  the  fury  of  the  elements. 
No  care,  however,  could  keep  it 
from  growing  old  and  worn  and 
faded ;  and  when  the  slaves  were 
set  free  and  he  was  called  upon 
by  the  interposition  of  Providence 
to  lay  it  finally  aside,  it  was  cov 
ered  by  many  a  patch  and  stain  as 
proofs  of  its  devoted  usage. 

One  after  another  the  colonel's 
old  servants,  gathering  their  chil 
dren  about  them,  had  left  him,  to 
begin  their  new  life.  He  bade  them 


MUSIC  NO  MORE 

all  a  kind  good -by,  and  into  the 
palm  of  each  silently  pressed  some 
gift  that  he  knew  would  soon  be 
needed.  But  no  inducement  could 
make  Peter  or  Phillis,  his  wife, 
budge  from  their  cabin.  "  Go,  Pe 
ter  !  Go,  Phillis  !"  the  colonel  had 
said  time  and  again.  "  No  one  is 
happier  that  you  are  free  than  I 
am  ;  and  you  can  call  on  me  for 
what  you  need  to  set  you  up  in 
business."  But  Peter  and  Phillis 
asked  to  stay  with  him.  Then  sud 
denly,  several  months  before  the 
time  at  which  this  sketch  opens, 
Phillis  had  died,  leaving  the  colonel 
and  Peter  as  the  only  relics  of  that 
populous  life  which  had  once  fill 
ed  the  house  and  the  cabins.  The 
colonel  had  succeeded  in  hiring  a 
woman  to  do  Phillis's  work ;  but 
her  presence  was  a  strange  note  of 
discord  in  the  old  domestic  har 
mony,  and  only  saddened  the  rec 
ollections  of  its  vanished  peace. 
23 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

Peter  had  a  short,  stout  figure, 
dark -brown  skin,  smooth -shaven 
face,  eyes  round,  deep-set,  and  wide 
apart,  and  a  short  stub  nose  which 
dipped  suddenly  into  his  head,  mak 
ing  it  easy  for  him  to  wear  the  sil 
ver-rimmed  spectacles  left  him  by 
his  old  mistress.  A  peculiar  con 
formation  of  the  muscles  between 
the  eyes  and  the  nose  gave  him 
•  the  quizzical  expression  of  one  who 
is  about  to  sneeze,  and  this  was 
heightened  by  a  twinkle  in  the  eyes 
which  seemed  caught  from  the  shin 
ing  of  an  inner  sun  upon  his  tran 
quil  heart. 

Sometimes,  however,  his  face 
grew  sad  enough.  It  was  sad  on 
this  afternoon  while  he  watched  the 
colonel  walk  slowly  up  the  pave 
ment,  well  overgrown  with  weeds, 
and  enter  the  house,  which  the  set 
ting  sun  touched  with  the  last  radi 
ance  of  the  finished  day. 
24 


NEW   LIFE 

ABOUT  two  years  after  the  close 
of  the  war,  therefore,  the  colonel  and 
Peter  were  to  be  found  in  Lexing 
ton,  ready  to  turn  over  a  new  leaf 
in  the  volumes  of  their  lives,  which 
already  had  an  old-fashioned  bind 
ing,  a  somewhat  musty  odor,  and 
but  few  unwritten  leaves  remaining. 

After  a  long,  dry  summer  you 
may  have  seen  two  gnarled  old 
apple-trees,  that  stood  with  inter 
locked  arms  on  the  western  slope  of 
some  quiet  hill-side,  make  a  melan 
choly  show  of  blooming  out  again 
in  the  autumn  of  the  year  and  dal 
lying  with  the  idle  buds  that  mock 
their  sapless  branches.  Much  the 
same  was  the  belated,  fruitless  ef 
florescence  of  the  colonel  and  Peter. 
25 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

The  colonel  had  no  business  hab 
its,  no  political  ambition,  no  wish  to 
grow  richer.  He  was  too  old  for  so 
ciety,  and  without  near  family  ties. 
For  some  time  he  wandered  through 
the  streets  like  one  lost — sick  with 
yearning  for  the  fields  and  woods, 
for  his  cattle,  for  familiar  faces.  He 
haunted  Cheapside  and  the  court 
house  square,  where  the  farmers  al 
ways  assembled  when  they  came  to 
town ;  and  if  his  eye  lighted  on  one, 
he  would  button -hole  him  on  the 
street -corner  and  lead  him  into  a 
grocery  and  sit  down  for  a  quiet 
chat.  Sometimes  he  would  meet 
an  aimless,  melancholy  wanderer 
like  himself,  and  the  two  would  go 
off  and  discuss  over  and  over  again 
their  departed  days ;  and  several 
times  he  came  unexpectedly  upon 
some  of  his  old  servants  who  had 
fallen  into  bitter  want,  and  who 
more  than  repaid  him  for  the  help 
he  gave  by  contrasting  the  hard- 
26 


NEW  LIFE 

ships  of  a  life  of  freedom  with  the 
ease  of  their  shackled  years. 

In  the  course  of  time,  he  could 
but  observe  that  human  life  in  the 
town  was  reshaping  itself  slowly 
and  painfully,  but  with  resolute  en 
ergy.  ^The  colossal  structure  of  sla 
very  had  fallen,  scattering  its  ruins 
far  and  wide  over  the  State  ;  but 
out  of  the  very  debris  was  being 
taken  the  material  to  lay  the  deeper 
foundations  of  the  new  social  edi 
fice.  Men  and  women  as  old  as  he 
were  beginning  life  over,  and  trying 
to  fit  themselves  for  it  by  changing 
the  whole  attitude  and  habit  of 
their  minds — by  taking  on  a  new 
heart  and  spirit.  But  when  a  great 
building  falls,  there  is  always  some 
rubbish,  and  the  colonel  and  others 
like  him  were  part  of  this.  Hence 
forth  they  possessed  only  an  anti 
quarian  sort  of  interest,  like  the 
stamped  bricks  of  Nebuchadnezzar. 

Nevertheless  he  made  a  show  of 
27 


TWO   GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

doing  something,  and  in  a  year  or 
two  opened  on  Cheapside  a  store 
for  the  sale  of  hardware  and  agri 
cultural  implements.  He  knew 
more  about  the  latter  than  anything 
else ;  and,  furthermore,  he  secretly 
felt  that  a  business  of  this  kind 
would  enable  him  to  establish  in 
town  a  kind  of  headquarters  for  the 
farmers.  His  account -books  were 
to  be  kept  on  a  system  of  twelve 
months'  credit;  and  he  resolved  that 
if  one  of  his  customers  couldn't  pay 
then,  it  would  make  no  difference. 

Business  began  slowly.  The 
farmers  dropped  in  and  found  a 
good  lounging -place.  On  county- 
court  days,  which  were  great  mar 
ket  -  days  for  the  sale  of  sheep, 
horses,  mules,  and  cattle  in  front  of 
the  colonel's  door,  they  swarmed  in 
from  the  hot  sun  and  sat  around  on 
the  counter  and  the  ploughs  and 
machines  till  the  entrance  was 
blocked  to  other  customers. 
28 


NEW  LIFE 

When  a  customer  did  come  in, 
the  colonel,  who  was  probably  talk 
ing  with  some  old  acquaintance, 
would  tell  him  just  to  look  around 
and  pick  out  what  he  wanted  and 
the  price  would  be  all  right.  If  one 
of  those  acquaintances  asked  for  a 
pound  of  nails,  the  colonel  would 
scoop  up  some  ten  pounds  and  say, 
"  I  reckon  that's  about  a  pound, 
Tom."  He  had  never  seen  a  pound 
of  nails  in  his  life;  and  if  one  had 
been  weighed  on  his  scales,  he 
would  have  said  the  scales  were 
wrong. 

He  had  no  great  idea  of  com 
mercial  despatch.  One  morning  a 
lady  came  in  for  some  carpet-tacks, 
an  article  that  he  had  forgotten  to 
lay  in.  But  he  at  once  sent  off  an 
order  for  enough  to  have  tacked  a 
carpet  pretty  well  all  over  Kentucky ; 
and  when  they  came,  two  weeks 
later,  he  told  Peter  to  take  her  up  a 
dozen  papers  with  his  compliments. 
29 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

He  had  laid  in,  however,  an  ample 
and  especially  fine  assortment  of 
pocket-knives,  for  that  instrument 
had  always  been  to  him  one  of  gra 
cious  and  very  winning  qualities. 
Then  when  a  friend  dropped  in  he 
would  say,  "  General,  don't  you  need 
a  new  pocket-knife?"  and,  taking 
out  one,  would  open  all  the  blades 
and  commend  the  metal  and  the 
handle.  The  "general"  would  in 
quire  the  price,  and  the  colonel, 
having  shut  the  blades,  would  hand 
it  to  him,  saying  in  a  careless,  fond 
way,  "  I  reckon  I  won't  charge  you 
anything  for  that."  His  mind  could 
not  come  down  to  the  low  level  of 
such  ignoble  barter,  and  he  gave 
away  the  whole  case  of  knives. 

These  were  the  pleasanter  aspects 
of  his  business  life,  which  did  not 
lack  as  well  its  tedium  and  crosses. 
Thus  there  were  many  dark  stormy 
days  when  no  one  he  cared  to  see 
came  in ;  and  he  then  became  rather 
30 


NEW  LIFE 

a  pathetic  figure,  wandering  absently 
around  amid  the  symbols  of  his  past 
activity,  and  stroking  the  ploughs, 
like  dumb  companions.  Or  he  would 
stand  at  the  door  and  look  across  at 
the  old  court-house,  where  he  had 
seen  many  a  slave  sold  and  had 
listened  to  the  great  Kentucky 
orators. 

But  what  hurt  him  most  was  the 
talk  of  the  new  farming  and  the 
abuse  of  the  old  which  he  was  forced 
to  hear;  and  he  generally  refused  to 
handle  the  improved  implements 
and  mechanical  devices  by  which 
labor  and  waste  were  to  be  saved. 

Altogether  he  grew  tired  of  "  the 
thing,"  and  sold  out  at  the  end  of 
the  year  with  a  loss  of  over  a  thou 
sand  dollars,  though  he  insisted  he 
had  done  a  good  business. 

As  he  was  then  seen  much  on  the 

streets  again  and  several  times  heard 

to  make  remarks  in  regard  to  the 

sidewalks,    gutters,    and    crossings, 

31 


TWO   GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

when  they  happened  to  be  in  bad 
condition,  the  Daily  Press  one  morn 
ing  published  a  card  stating  that  if 
Colonel  Romulus  Fields  would  con 
sent  to  make  the  race  for  mayor  he 
would  receive  the  support  of  many 
Democrats,  adding  a  tribute  to  his 
virtues  and  his  influential  past.  It 
touched  the  colonel,  and  he  walked 
down-town  with  a  rather  command 
ing  figure  the  next  morning.  But 
it  pained  him  to  see  how  many  of 
his  acquaintances  returned  his  salu 
tations  very  coldly;  and  just  as  he 
was  passing  the  Northern  Bank  he 
met  the  young  opposition  candidate 
— a  little  red-haired  fellow,  walking 
between  two  ladies,  with  a  rose-bud 
in  his  button-hole — who  refused  to 
speak  at  all,  but  made  the  ladies 
laugh  by  some  remark  he  uttered  as 
the  colonel  passed.  The  card  had 
been  inserted  humorously,  but  he 
took  it  seriously;  and  when  his 
friends  found  this  out,  they  rallied 
32 


NEW  LIFE 

round  him.  The  day  of  election 
drew  near.  They  told  him  he  must 
buy  votes.  He  said  he  wouldn't 
buy  a  vote  to  be  mayor  of  the  New 
Jerusalem.  They  told  him  he  must 
"mix"  and  "treat."  He  refused. 
Foreseeing  he  had  no  chance,  they 
besought  him  to  withdraw.  He  said 
he  would  not.  They  told  him  he 
wouldn't  poll  twenty  votes.  He 
replied  that  one  would  satisfy  him, 
provided  it  was  neither  begged  nor 
bought.  When  his  defeat  was  an 
nounced,  he  accepted  it  as  another 
evidence  that  he  had  no  part  in  the 
present — no  chance  of  redeeming 
his  idleness. 

A  sense  of  this  weighed  heavily 
on  him  at  times ;  but  it  is  not  like 
ly  that  he  realized  how  pitifully  he 
was  undergoing  a  moral  shrinkage 
in  consequence  of  mere  disuse. 
Actually,  extinction  had  set  in  with 
him  long  prior  to  dissolution,  and 
he  was  dead  years  before  his  heart 
c  33 


TWO  GENTLEMEN-  OF  KENTUCKY 

ceased  beating.  The  very  basic  vir 
tues  on  which  had  rested  his  once 
spacious  and  stately  character  were 
now  but  the  mouldy  corner-stones 
of  a  crumbling  ruin. 

It  was  a  subtle  evidence  of  dete 
rioration  in  manliness  that  he  had 
taken  to  dress.  When  he  had  lived 
in  the  country,  he  had  never  dressed 
up  unless  he  came  to  town.  When 
he  had  moved  to  town,  he  thought 
he  must  remain  dressed  up  all  the 
time ;  and  this  fact  first  fixed  his 
attention  on  a  matter  which  after 
wards  began  to  be  loved  for  its 
own  sake.  Usually  he  wore  a  Der 
by  hat,  a  black  diagonal  coat,  gray 
trousers,  and  a  white  necktie.  But 
the  article  of  attire  in  which  he  took 
chief  pleasure  was  hose ;  and  the 
better  to  show  the  gay  colors  of 
these,  he  wore  low-cut  shoes  of  the 
finest  calf -skin,  turned  up  at  the 
toes.  Thus  his  feet  kept  pace  with 
the  present,  however  far  his  head 
34 


NEW  LIFE 

may  have  lagged  in  the  past ;  and 
it  may  be  that  this  stream  of  fresh 
fashions,  flowing  perennially  over 
his  lower  extremities  like  water 
about  the  roots  of  a  tree,  kept  him 
from  drying  up  altogether. 

Peter  always  polished  his  shoes 
with  too  much  blacking,  perhaps 
thinking  that  the  more  the  black 
ing  the  greater  the  proof  of  love. 
He  wore  his  clothes  about  a  sea 
son  and  a  half — having  several  suits 
—  and  then  passed  them  on  to  Pe 
ter,  who,  foreseeing  the  joy  of  such 
an  inheritance,  bought  no  new  ones. 
In  the  act  of  transferring  them  the 
colonel  made  no  comment  until  he 
came  to  the  hose,  from  which  he 
seemed  unable  to  part  without  a 
final  tribute  of  esteem,  as:  " These 
are  fine,  Peter ;"  or,  "  Peter,  these 
are  nearly  as  good  as  new."  Thus 
Peter,  too,  was  dragged  through 
the  whims  of  fashion.  To  have 
seen  the  colonel  walking  about  his 
35 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

grounds  and  garden  followed  by 
Peter,  just  a  year  and  a  half  behind 
in  dress  and  a  yard  and  a  half  be 
hind  in  space,  one  might  well  have 
taken  the  rear  figure  for  the  colo 
nel's  double,  slightly  the  worse  for 
wear,  somewhat  shrunken,  and  cast 
into  a  heavy  shadow. 

Time  hung  so  heavily  on  his 
hands  at  night  that  with  a  happy 
inspiration  he  added  a  dress-suit  to 
his  wardrobe,  and  accepted  the  first 
invitation  to  an  evening  party. 

He  grew  excited  as  the  hour  ap 
proached,  and  dressed  in  a  great  fid 
get  for  fear  he  should  be  too  late. 

"How  do  I  look,  Peter?"  he  in 
quired  at  length,  surprised  at  his 
own  appearance. 

"  Splendid,  Marse  Rom,"  replied 
Peter,  bringing  in  the  shoes  with 
more  blacking  on  them  than  ever 
before. 

"  I  think,"  said  the  colonel,  apol 
ogetically—"  I  think  I'd  look  bet- 
36 


NEW  LIFE 

ter  if  I'd  put  a  little  powder  on.  I 
don't  know  what  makes  me  so  red 
in  the  face." 

But  his  heart  began  to  sink  be 
fore  he  reached  his  hostess's,  and  he 
had  a  fearful  sense  of  being  the  ob 
served  of  all  observers  as  he  slipped 
through  the  hall  and  passed  rapidly 
up  to  the  gentlemen's  room.  He 
stayed  there  after  the  others  had 
gone  down,  bewildered  and  lonely, 
dreading  to  go  down  himself.  By- 
and-by  the  musicians  struck  up  a 
waltz,  and  with  a  little  cracked 
laugh  at  his  own  performance  he  cut 
a  few  shines  of  an  unremembered 
pattern;  but  his  ankles  snapped 
audibly,  and  he  suddenly  stopped 
with  the  thought  of  what  Peter 
would  say  if  he  should  catch  him 
at  these  antics.  Then  he  boldly 
went  down-stairs. 

He  had  touched  the  new  human 
life  around  him  at  various  points: 
as  he  now  stretched  out  his  arms 
37 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

towards  its  society,  for  the  first  time 
he  completely  realized  how  far  re 
moved  it  was  from  him.  Here  he 
saw  a  younger  generation — the 
flowers  of  the  new  social  order  — 
sprung  from  the  very  soil  of  frater 
nal  battle-fields,  but  blooming  to 
gether  as  the  emblems  of  oblivious 
peace.  He  saw  fathers  who  had 
fought  madly  on  opposite  sides 
talking  quietly  in  corners  as  they 
watched  their  children  dancing,  or 
heard  them  toasting  their  old  gen 
erals  and  their  campaigns  over  their 
champagne  in  the  supper-room.  He 
was  glad  of  it;  but  it  made  him  feel, 
at  the  same  time,  that  instead  of 
treading  the  velvety  floors,  he  ought 
to  step  up  and  take  his  place  among 
the  canvases  of  old-time  portraits 
that  looked  down  from  the  walls. 

The  dancing   he   had  done  had 

been  not  under  the  blinding  glare 

of  gas-light,  but  by  the  glimmer  of 

tallow-dips  and  star-candles  and  the 

38 


NE  W  LIFE 

ruddy  glow  of  cavernous  firesides — 
not  to  the  accompaniment  of  an  or 
chestra  of  wind-instruments  and 
strings,  but  to  a  chorus  of  girls' 
sweet  voices,  as  they  trod  simpler 
measures,  or  to  the  maddening 
sway  of  a  gray-haired  negro  fiddler 
standing  on  a  chair  in  the  chimney- 
corner.  Still,  it  is  significant  to  note 
that  his  saddest  thought,  long  after 
leaving,  was  that  his  shirt -bosom 
had  not  lain  down  smooth,  but 
stuck  out  like  a  huge  cracked  egg 
shell  ;  and  that  when,  in  imitation 
of  the  others,  he  had  laid  his  white 
silk  handkerchief  across  his  bosom 
inside  his  vest,  it  had  slipped  out 
during  the  evening,  and  had  been 
found  by  him,  on  confronting  a  mir 
ror,  flapping  over  his  stomach  like 
a  little  white  masonic  apron. 

"  Did  you  have  a  nice  time,  Marse 
Rom?"  inquired  Peter,  as  they  drove 
home  through  the  darkness. 

"  Splendid  time,  Peter,  splendid 
39 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

time,"    replied     the     colonel,    ner 
vously. 

"  Did  you  dance  any,  Marse 
Rom?" 

"I  didn't  dance.  Oh,  I  could 
have  danced  if  I'd  wanted  to ;  but 
I  didn't." 

Peter  helped  the  colonel  out  of 
the  carriage  with  pitying  gentleness 
when  they  reached  home.  It  was 
the  first  and  only  party. 

Peter  also  had  been  finding  out 
that  his  occupation  was  gone. 

Soon  after  moving  to  town,  he 
had  tendered  his  pastoral  services 
to  one  of  the  fashionable  churches 
of  the  city — not  because  it  was  fash 
ionable,  but  because  it  was  made 
up  of  his  brethren.  In  reply  he 
was  invited  to  preach  a  trial  ser 
mon,  which  he  did  with  gracious 
unction. 

It  was  a  strange    scene,  as  one 
calm  Sunday  morning  he  stood  on 
the  edge  of  the  pulpit,  dressed  in  a 
40 


NE  W  LIFE 

suit  of  the  colonel's  old  clothes, 
with  one  hand  in  his  trousers-pock 
et,  and  his  lame  leg  set  a  little  for 
ward  at  an  angle  familiar  to  those 
who  know  the  statues  of  Henry 
Clay. 

How  self-possessed  he  seemed, 
yet  with  what  a  rush  of  memories 
did  he  pass  his  eyes  slowly  over 
that  vast  assemblage  of  his  emanci 
pated  people  !  With  what  feelings 
must  he  have  contrasted  those  silk 
hats,  and  walking-canes,  and  broad 
cloths;  those  gloves  and  satins,  laces 
and  feathers,  jewelry  and  fans — that 
whole  many -colored  panorama  of 
life — with  the  weary,  sad,  and  sul 
len  audiences  that  had  often  heard 
him  of  old  under  the  forest  trees  or 
by  the  banks  of  some  turbulent 
stream ! 

In  a  voice  husky,  but  heard  be 
yond  the  flirtation  of  the  uttermost 
pew,  he  took  his  text:  "  Consider 
the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

grow ;  they  toil  not,  neither  do 
they  spin."  From  this  he  tried  to 
preach  a  new  sermon,  suited  to  the 
newer  day.  But  several  times  the 
thoughts  of  the  past  were  too  much 
for  him,  and  he  broke  down  with 
emotion. 

The  next  day  a  grave  committee 
waited  on  him  and  reported  that 
the  sense  of  the  congregation  was 
to  call  a  colored  gentleman  from 
Louisville.  Private  objections  to 
Peter  were  that  he  had  a  broken 
leg,  wore  Colonel  Fields's  second 
hand  clothes,  which  were  too  big 
for  him,  preached  in  the  old-fash 
ioned  way,  and  lacked  self-control 
and  repose  of  manner. 

Peter  accepted  his  rebuff  as 
sweetly  as  Socrates  might  have 
done.  Humming  the  burden  of  an 
old  hymn,  he  took  his  righteous 
coat  from  a  nail  in  the  wall  and 
folded  it  away  in  a  little  brass- 
nailed  deer-skin  trunk,  laying  over 
42 


NE  W  LIFE 

it  the  spelling-book  and  the  Pil 
grim  s  Progress,  which  he  had  ceased 
to  read.  Thenceforth  his  relations 
to  his  people  were  never  intimate, 
and  even  from  the  other  servants 
of  the  colonel's  household  he  stood 
apart.  But  the  colonel  took  Peter's 
rejection  greatly  to  heart,  and  the 
next  morning  gave  him  the  new  silk 
socks  he  had  worn  at  the  party.  In 
paying  his  servants  the  colonel 
would  sometimes  say,  "  Peter,  I 
reckon  I'd  better  begin  to  pay  you 
a  salary;  that's  the  style  now."  But 
Peter  would  turn  off,  saying  he 
didn't  "  have  no  use  fur  no  salary." 
Thus  both  of  them  dropped  more 
and  more  out  of  life,  but  as  they  did 
so  drew  more  and  more  closely  to 
each  other.  The  colonel  had  bought 
a  home  on  the  edge  of  the  town,  with 
some  ten  acres  of  beautiful  ground 
surrounding.  A  high  osage-orange 
hedge  shut  it  in,  and  forest  trees, 
chiefly  maples  and  elms,  gave  to  the 
43 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

lawn  and  house  abundant  shade. 
Wild-grape  vines,  the  Virginia-creep 
er,  and  the  climbing-oak  swung  their 
long  festoons  from  summit  to  sum 
mit,  while  honey-suckles,  clematis, 
and  the  Mexican -vine  clambered 
over  arbors  and  trellises,  or  along 
the  chipped  stone  of  the  low,  old- 
fashioned  house.  Just  outside  the 
door  of  the  colonel's  bedroom  slept 
an  ancient,  broken  sun-dial. 

The  place  seemed  always  in  half- 
shadow,  with  hedgerows  of  box, 
clumps  of  dark  holly,  darker  firs 
half  a  century  old,  and  aged  crape- 
like  cedars. 

It  was  in  the  seclusion  of  this  re 
treat,  which  looked  almost  like  a 
wild  bit  of  country  set  down  on  the 
edge  of  the  town,  that  the  colonel 
and  Peter  spent  more  of  their  time 
as  they  fell  farther  in  the  rear  of 
onward  events.  There  were  no 
such  flower-gardens  in  the  city,  and 
pretty  much  the  whole  town  went 
44 


NEW  LIFE 

thither  for  its  flowers,  preferring 
them  to  those  that  were  to  be  had 
for  a  price  at  the  nurseries. 

There  was,  perhaps,  a  suggestion 
of  pathetic  humor  in  the  fact  that 
it  should  have  called  on  the  colonel 
and  Peter,  themselves  so  nearly  de 
funct,  to  furnish  the  flowers  for  so 
many  funerals;  but,  it  is  certain, 
almost  weekly  the  two  old  gentle 
men  received  this  chastening  admo 
nition  of  their  all-but-spent  mortal 
ity.  The  colonel  cultivated  the  rar 
est  fruits  also,  and  had  under  glass 
varieties  that  were  not  friendly  to 
the  climate;  so  that  by  means  of 
the  fruits  and  flowers  there  was  es 
tablished  a  pleasant  social  bond 
with  many  who  otherwise  would 
never  have  sought  them  out. 

But  others  came  for  better  reasons. 
To  a  few  deep-seeing  eyes  the  colonel 
and  Peter  were  ruined  landmarks 
on  a  fading  historic  landscape,  and 
their  devoted  friendship  was  the  last 
45 


TWO   GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

steady  burning-down  of  that  pure 
flame  of  love  which  can  never  again 
shine  out  in  the  future  of  the  two 
races.  Hence  a  softened  charm  in 
vested  the  drowsy  quietude  of  that 
shadowy  paradise  in  which  the  old 
master  without  a  slave  and  the  old 
slave  without  a  master  still  kept  up 
a  brave  pantomime  of  their  obsolete 
relations.  No  one  ever  saw  in  their 
intercourse  ought  but  the  finest 
courtesy,  the  most  delicate  consid 
eration.  The  very  tones  of  their 
voices  in  addressing  each  other  were 
as  good  as  sermons  on  gentleness, 
their  antiquated  playfulness  as  melo 
dious  as  the  babble  of  distant  water. 
To  be  near  them  was  to  be  exorcised 
of  evil  passions. 

The  sun  of  their  day  had  indeed 
long  since  set ;  but  like  twin  clouds 
lifted  high  and  motionless  into  some 
far  quarter  of  the  gray  twilight  skies, 
they  were  still  radiant  with  the  glow 
of  the  invisible  orb. 
46 


NE  W  LIFE 

Henceforth  the  colonel's  appear 
ances  in  public  were  few  and  regular. 
He  went  to  church  on  Sundays, 
where  he  sat  on  the  edge  of  the 
choir  in  the  centre  of  the  building, 
and  sang  an  ancient  bass  of  his  own 
improvisation  to  the  older  hymns, 
and  glanced  furtively  around  to  see 
whether  any  one  noticed  that  he 
could  not  sing  the  new  ones.  At 
the  Sunday-school  picnics  the  com 
mittee  of  arrangements  allowed  him 
to  carve  the  mutton,  and  after  din 
ner  to  swing  the  smallest  children 
gently  beneath  the  trees.  He  was 
seen  on  Commencement  Day  at  Mor 
rison  Chapel,  where  he  always  gave 
his  bouquet  to  the  valedictorian. 
It  was  the  speech  of  that  young 
gentleman  that  always  touched  him, 
consisting  as  it  did  of  farewells. 

In  the  autumn  he  might  some 
times  be  noticed  sitting  high  up  in 
the  amphitheatre  at  the  fair,  a  little 
blue  around  the  nose,  and  looking 
47 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

absently  over  into  the  ring  where 
the  judges  were  grouped  around  the 
music-stand.  Once  he  had  strutted 
around  as  a  judge  himself,  with  a 
blue  ribbon  in  his  button-hole,  while 
the  band  played  "  Sweet  Alice,  Ben 
Bolt"  and  "Gentle  Annie."  The 
ring  seemed  full  of  young  men  now, 
and  no  one  even  thought  of  offering 
him  the  privileges  of  the  grounds. 
In  his  day  the  great  feature  of  the 
exhibition  had  been  cattle;  now 
everything  was  turned  into  a  horse- 
show.  He  was  always  glad  to  get 
home  again  to  Peter,  his  true  yoke 
fellow.  For  just  as  two  old  oxen — 
one  white  and  one  black — that  have 
long  toiled  under  the  same  yoke  will, 
when  turned  out  to  graze  at  last  in 
the  widest  pasture,  come  and  put 
themselves  horn  to  horn  and  flank 
to  flank,  so  the  colonel  and  Peter 
were  never  so  happy  as  when  rumi 
nating  side  by  side. 
48 


NEW   LOVE 

IN  their  eventless  life  the  slightest 
incident  acquired  the  importance  of 
a  history.  Thus,  one  day  in  June, 
Peter  discovered  a  young  couple 
love-making  in  the  shrubbery,  and 
with  the  deepest  agitation  reported 
the  fact  to  the  colonel. 

Never  before,  probably,  had  the 
fluttering  of  the  dear  god's  wings 
brought  more  dismay  than  to  these 
ancient  involuntary  guardsmen  of 
his  hiding-place.  The  colonel  was 
at  first  for  breaking  up  what  he 
considered  a  piece  of  underhand 
proceedings,  but  Peter  reasoned 
stoutly  that  if  the  pair  were  driven 
out  they  would  simply  go  to  some 
other  retreat;  and  without  getting 
the  approval  of  his  conscience  to 
D  49 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

this  view,  the  colonel  contented 
himself  with  merely  repeating  that 
they  ought  to  go  straight  and  tell 
the  girl's  parents.  Those  parents 
lived  just  across  the  street  outside 
his  grounds.  The  young  lady  he 
knew  very  well  himself,  having  a  few 
years  before  given  her  the  privilege 
of  making  herself  at  home  among 
his  flowers.  It  certainly  looked  hard 
to  drive  her  out  now,  just  when  she 
was  making  the  best  possible  use  of 
his  kindness  and  her  opportunity. 
Moreover,  Peter  walked  down  street 
and  ascertained  that  the  young  fel 
low  was  an  energetic  farmer  living 
a  few  miles  from  town,  and  son  of 
one  of  the  colonel's  former  friends ; 
on  both  of  which  accounts  the  latter's 
heart  went  out  to  him.  So  when,  a 
few  days  later,  the  colonel,  followed 
by  Peter,  crept  up  breathlessly  and 
peeped  through  the  bushes  at  the 
pair  strolling  along  the  shady  per 
fumed  walks,  and  so  plainly  happy 


NEW  LOVE 

in  that  happiness  which  comes  but 
once  in  a  lifetime,  they  not  only 
abandoned  the  idea  of  betraying  the 
secret,  but  afterwards  kept  away 
from  that  part  of  the  grounds,  lest 
they  should  be  an  interruption. 

"  Peter,"  stammered  the  colonel, 
who  had  been  trying  to  get  the  words 
out  for  three  days,  "  do  you  suppose 
he  has  already — asked  her?" 
r-  "  Some's  pow'ful  quick  on  de 
trigger,  en  some's  mighty  slow," 
replied  Peter,  neutrally.  "  En  some," 
he  added,  exhaustively,  "  don't  use 
de  trigger  't  all !" 

"  I  always  thought  there  had  to 
be  asking  done  by  somebody"  re 
marked  the  colonel,  a  little  vaguely. 

"  I  nuver  axed  Phillis  !"  exclaimed 
Peter,  with  a  certain  air  of  triumph. 

"Did  Phillis  ask  you,  Peter?"  in 
quired  the  colonel,  blushing  and 
confidential. 

"No,  no,  Marse  Rom!     I  couldn't 
er  stood  dat  from  no  'oman !"  replied 
51 

*     /  i 

IL  ft  .  ijWT 

>vf 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

Peter,  laughing,  and  shaking  his 
head. 

The  colonel  was  sitting  on  the 
stone  steps  in  front  of  the  house, 
and  Peter  stood  below,  leaning 
against  a  Corinthian  column,  hat  in 
hand,  as  he  went  on  to  tell  his  love- 
story. 

"  Hit  all  happ'n  dis  way,  Marse 
Rom.  We  wuz  gwine  have  pra'r- 
meetin',  en  I  'lowed  to  walk  home 
wid  Phillis  en  ax  'er  on  de  road.  I 
been  'lowin'  to  ax  'er  heap  o'  times 
befo',  but  I  am'  jes  nuver  done  so. 
So  I  says  to  myse'f,  says  I,  '  I  jes 
mek  my  sermon  to-night  kiner  lead 
up  to  whut  I  gwine  tell  Phillis  on 
de  road  home.'  So  I  tuk  my  tex' 
from  de  lef  tail  o'  my  coat:  '  De 
greates'  o'  dese  is  charity';  caze  I 
knowed  charity  wuz  same  ez  love. 
En  all  de  time  I  wuz  preachin'  an' 
glorifyin'  charity  en  identifyin' 
charity  wid  love,  I  couldn*  he'p 
thinkin'  'bout  what  I  gwine  say  to 
52 


NEW  LO  VE 

Phillis  on  de  road  home.  Dat  mek 
me  feel  better;  en  de  better  I  feel, 
de  better  I  preach,  so  hit  boun'  to 
mek  my  heahehs  feel  better  likewise 
— Phillis  'mong  um.  So  Phillis  she 
jes  sot  dah  listenin'  en  listenin'  en 
lookin'  like  we  wuz  a' ready  on  de 
road  home,  till  I  got  so  wuked  up 
in  my  feelin's  I  jes  knowed  de  time 
wuz  come.  By-en-by,  I  had  n'  mo'  'n 
done  preachin'  en  wuz  lookin'  roun' 
to  git  my  Bible  en  my  hat,  'fo'  up 
popped  dat  big  Charity  Green,  who 
been  settin'  'longside  o'  Phillis  en 
tekin'  ev'y  las'  thing  I  said  to  her- 
se'f.  En  she  tuk  hole  o'  my  han' 
en  squeeze  it,  en  say  she  felt  mos' 
like  shoutin'.  En  'fo'  I  knowed  it, 
I  jes  see  Phillis  wrap  'er  shawl  roun' 
'er  head  en  tu'n  'er  nose  up  at  me 
right  quick  en  flip  out  de  dooh.  De 
dogs  howl  mighty  mou'nful  when  I 
walk  home  by  myse'f  dat  night," 
added  Peter,  laughing  to  himself, 
"  en  I  ain'  preach  dat  sermon  no 
53 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

mo'  tell  atter  me  en  Phillis  wuz 
married. 

"  Hit  was  long  time,"  he  contin 
ued,  "  'fo*  Phillis  come  to  heah  me 
preach  any  mo'.  But  'long  'bout 
de  nex'  fall  we  had  big  meetin',  en 
heap  mo'  um  j'ined.  But  Phillis, 
she  ain't  nuver  j'ined  yit.  I  preached 
mighty  nigh  all  roun'  my  coat-tails 
till  I  say  to  myse'f,  D'  ain't  but  one 
tex'  lef,  en  I  jes  got  to  fetch  'er  wid 
dat !  De  tex'  wuz  on  de  right  tail 
o'  my  coat :  *  Come  unto  me,  all  ye 
dat  labor  en  is  heavy  laden.'  Hit 
wuz  a  ve'y  momentous  sermon,  en 
all  'long  I  jes  see  Phillis  wras'lin' 
wid  'erse'f,  en  I  say,  'She  got  to 
come  dis  night,  de  Lohd  he'pin' 
me.'  En  I  had  n'  mo'  'n  said  de 
word,  'fo'  she  jes  walked  down  en 
guv  me  'er  ban'. 

"  Den  we  had  de  baptizin'  in  Elk- 
horn  Creek,  en  de  watter  wuz  deep 
en  de  curren'  tol'ble  swif.  Hit  look 
to  me  like  dere  wuz  five  hundred 
54 


NEW  LOVE 

uv  um  on  de  creek  side.  By-en-by 
I  stood  on  de  edge  o'  de  watter,  en 
Phillis  she  come  down  to  let  me 
baptize  'er.  En  me  en  'er  j'ined 
han's  en  waded  out  in  the  creek, 
mighty  slow,  caze  Phillis  didn'  have 
no  shot  roun'  de  bottom  uv  'er 
dress,  en  it  kep'  bobbin'  on  top  de 
watter  till  I  pushed  it  down.  But 
by-en-by  we  got  'way  out  in  de 
creek,  en  bof  uv  us  wuz  tremblin'. 
En  I  says  to  'er  ve'y  kin'ly,  *  When 
I  put  you  un'er  de  watter,  Phillis, 
you  mus'  try  en  hole  yo'se'f  stiff,  so 
I  can  lif  you  up  easy.'  But  I  hadn't 
mo'  'n  jes  got  'er  laid  back  over  de 
watter  ready  to  souze  'er  un'er 
when  'er  feet  flew  up  off  de  bottom 
uv  de  creek,  en  when  I  retched  out 
to  fetch  'er  up,  I  stepped  in  a  hole ; 
en  'fo'  I  knowed  it  we  wuz  floun- 
derin'  roun'  in  de  watter,  en  de 
hymn  dey  was  singin'  on  de  bank 
sounded  mighty  confused-like.  En 
Phillis  she  swallowed  some  watter, 
55 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

en  all 't  oncet  she  jes  grap  me  right 
tight  roun'  de  neck,  en  say  mighty 
quick,  says  she,  *  I  gwine  marry 
whoever  gits  me  out'n  dis  yere 
watter !' 

"  En  by-en-by,  when  me  en  'er 
wuz  walkin'  up  de  bank  o'  de  creek, 
drippin'  all  over,  I  says  to  'er,  says 
I: 

"  '  Does  you  'member  what  you 
said  back  yon'er  in  de  watter,  Phil- 
lis?' 

"  '  I  ain'  out'n  no  watter  yit,'  says 
she,  ve'y  contemptuous. 

"'When  does  you  consider  yo'- 
se'f  out'n  de  watter  ?'  says  I,  ve'y 
humble. 

" '  When  I  git  dese  soakin'  clo'es 
off'n  my  back,'  says  she. 

"  Hit  wuz  good  dark  when  we 
got  home,  en  atter  a  while  I  crope 
up  to  de  dooh  o'  Phillis's  cabin  en 
put  my  eye  down  to  de  key-hole, 
en  see  Phillis  jes  settin'  To'  dem 
blazin*  walnut  logs  dressed  up  in 
56 


NEW  LOVE 

'er  new  red  linsey  dress,  en  'er  eyes 
shinin'.  En  I  shuk  so  I  'mos'  faint. 
Den  I  tap  easy  on  de  dooh,  en  say 
in  a  mighty  tremblin'  tone,  says  I : 

"  *  Is  you  out'n  de  watter  yit, 
Phillis?' 

" '  I  got  on  dry  dress,'  says  she. 

" '  Does  you  'member  what  you 
said  back  yon'er  in  de  watter,  Phil 
lis?' says  I. 

"'De  latch-string  on  de  outside 
de  dooh,'  says  she,  mighty  sof . 

"  En  I  walked  in." 

As  Peter  drew  near  the  end  of 
this  reminiscence,  his  voice  sank  to 
a  key  of  inimitable  tenderness;  and 
when  it  was  ended  he  stood  a  few 
minutes,  scraping  the  gravel  with 
the  toe  of  his  boot,  his  head  dropped 
forward.  Then  he  added,  huskily: 

"  Phillis  been  dead  heap  o'  years 
now;"  and  turned  away. 

This  recalling  of  the  scenes  of  a 
time  long  gone  by  may  have  awak 
ened  in  the  breast  of  the  colonel 
57 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

some  gentle  memory;  for  after  Pe 
ter  was  gone  he  continued  to  sit  a 
while  in  silent  musing.  Then,  get 
ting  up,  he  walked  in  the  falling  twi 
light  across  the  yard  and  through 
the  gardens  until  he  came  to  a  seclud 
ed  spot  in  the  most  distant  corner. 
There  he  stooped,  or  rather  knelt, 
down  and  passed  his  hands,  as 
though  with  mute  benediction,  over 
a  little  bed  of  old-fashioned  China 
pinks.  When  he  had  moved  in  from 
the  country  he  had  brought  nothing 
away  from  his  mother's  garden  but 
these,  and  in  all  the  years  since  no 
one  had  ever  pulled  them,  as  Peter 
well  knew;  for  one  day  the  colo 
nel  had  said,  with  his  face  turned 
away: 

"  Let  them  have  all  the  flowers 
they  want;  but  leave  the  pinks." 

He  continued  kneeling  over  them 

now,  touching  them  softly  with  his 

fingers,   as   though   they  were   the 

fragrant,  never-changing  symbols  of 

58 


NEW  LOVE 

voiceless  communion  with  his  past. 
Still,  it  may  have  been  only  the  early 
dew  of  the  evening  that  glistened 
on  them  when  he  rose  and  slowly 
walked  away,  leaving  the  pale  moon 
beams  to  haunt  the  spot. 

Certainly  after  this  day  he  showed 
increasing  concern  in  the  young 
lovers  who  were  holding  clandes 
tine  meetings  in  his  grounds. 

"  Peter/'  he  would  say,  "  why,  if 
they  love  each  other,  don't  they 
get  married?  Something  may  hap 
pen." 

"  I  been  spectin'  some'n'  to  happ'n 
fur  some  time,  ez  dey  been  quar'lin' 
right  smart  lately,"  replied  Peter, 
laughing. 

Whether  or  not  he  was  justified 
in  this  prediction,  before  the  end  of 
another  week  the  colonel  read  a  no 
tice  of  their  elopement  and  mar 
riage  ;  and  several  days  later  he 
came  up  from  down-town  and  told 
Peter  that  everything  had  been  for- 
59 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

given  the  young  pair,  who  had  gone 
to  house -keeping  in  the  country. 
It  gave  him  pleasure  to  think  he 
had  helped  to  perpetuate  the  race 
of  blue-grass  farmers. 
60 


THE  YEARNING  PASSED   AWAY 

IT  was  in  the  twilight  of  a  late 
autumn  day  in  the  same  year  that 
nature  gave  the  colonel  the  first 
direct  intimation  to  prepare  for  the 
last  summons.  They  had  been  pass 
ing  along  the  garden  walks,  where 
a  few  pale  flowers  were  trying  to 
flourish  up  to  the  very  winter's  edge, 
and  where  the  dry  leaves  had  gath 
ered  unswept  and  rustled  beneath 
their  feet.  All  at  once  the  colonel 
turned  to  Peter,  who  was  a  yard  and 
a  half  behind,  as  usual,  and  said : 

"  Give  me  your  arm,  Peter,  I  feel 
tired;"  and  thus  the  two,  for  the 
first  time  in  all  their  lifetime  walk 
ing  abreast,  passed  slowly  on. 

"  Peter,"  said  the  colonel,  gravely, 
a  minute  or  two  later,  "we  are  like 
61 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

two  dried -up  stalks  of  fodder.  I 
wonder  the  Lord  lets  us  live  any 
longer." 

"  I  reck'n  He's  managin'  to  use  us 
some  way,  or  we  wouldn'  be  heah," 
said  Peter. 

"  Well,  all  I  have  to  say  is  that, 
if  He's  using  me,  He  can't  be  in 
much  of  a  hurry  for  his  work,"  re 
plied  the  colonel. 

"  He  uses  snails,  en  I  know  we 
am'  ez  slow  ez  dem"  argued  Peter, 
composedly. 

"  I  don't  know.  I  think  a  snail 
must  have  made  more  progress 
since  the  war  than  I  have." 

The  idea  of  his  uselessness  seem 
ed  to  weigh  on  him,  for  a  little  later 
he  remarked,  with  a  sort  of  morti 
fied  smile : 

"  Do  you  think,  Peter,  that  we 
would  pass  for  what  they  call  repre 
sentative  men  of  the  New  South?" 

"  We  done  had  ou'  day,  Marse 
Rom,"  replied  Peter.  "We  got  to 
62 


THE   YEARNING  PASSED  AWAY 

pass  fur  what  we  tvuz.  Mebbe  de 
Lohd's  got  mo'  use  fur  us  yit  'n  peo 
ple  has,"  he  added,  after  a  pause. 

From  this  time  on  the  colonel's 
strength  gradually  failed  him  ;  but 
it  was  not  until  the  following  spring 
that  the  end  came. 

A  night  or  two  before  his  death 
his  mind  wandered  backward,  after 
the  familiar  manner  of  the  dying, 
and  his  delirious  dreams  showed 
the  shifting,  faded  pictures  that  re 
newed  themselves  for  the  last  time 
on  his  wasting  memory.  It  must 
have  been  that  he  was  once  more 
amid  the  scenes  of  his  active  farm- 
life,  for  his  broken  snatches  of  talk 
ran  thus : 

"  Come,  boys,  get  your  cradles ! 
Look  where  the  sun  is !  You  are 
late  getting  to  work  this  morning. 
That  is  the  finest  field  of  wheat  in 
the  county.  Be  careful  about  the 
bundles  !  Make  them  the  same  size 
and  tie  them  tight.  That  swath  is 
63 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

too  wide,  and  you  don't  hold  your 
cradle  right,  Tom.  .  .  . 

"  Sell  Peter  !  Sell  Peter  Cotton  ! 
No,  sir!  You  might  buy  me  some 
day  and  work  me  in  your  cotton- 
field  ;  but  as  long  as  he's  mine,  you 
can't  buy  Peter,  and  you  can't  buy 
any  of  my  negroes.  .  .  . 

"  Boys  !  boys  !  If  you  don't  work 
faster,  you  won't  finish  this  field  to 
day.  .  .  .  You'd  better  go  in  the 
shade  and  rest  now.  The  sun's  very 
hot.  Don't  drink  too  much  ice- 
water.  There's  a  jug  of  whiskey  in 
the  fence-corner.  Give  them  a  good 
dram  around,  and  tell  them  to  work 
slow  till  the  sun  gets  lower.".  .  . 

Once  during  the  night  a  sweet 
smile  played  over  his  features  as  he 
repeated  a  few  words  that  were  part 
of  an*  old  rustic  song  and  dance. 
Arranged,  not  as  they  came  broken 
and  incoherent  from  his  lips,  but  as 
he  once  had  sung  them,  they  were 
as  follows: 

64 


THE   YEARNING  PASSED  AWAY 

O  Sister  Phoebe  !     How  merry  were  we 
When  we  sat  under  the  juniper-tree, 

The  juniper-tree,  heigh-ho  ! 
Put   this   hat  on   your   head !     Keep  your 

head  warm ; 
Take  a  sweet  kiss  !    It  will  do  you  no  harm, 

Do  you  no  harm,  I  know !" 


After  this  he  sank  into  a  quieter 
sleep,  but  soon  stirred  with  a  look 
of  intense  pain. 

"  Helen  !  Helen  !"  he  murmured. 
"  Will  you  break  your  promise  ? 
Have  you  changed  in  your  feelings 
towards  me  ?  I  have  brought  you 
the  pinks.  Won't  you  take  the 
pinks,  Helen  ?" 

Then  he  sighed  as  he  added,  "  It 
wasn't  her  fault.  If  she  had  only 
known — " 

Who  was  the  Helen  of  that  far 
away  time  ?  Was  this  the  colonel's 
love-story  ? 

But  during  all  the  night,  whither 
soever  his  mind  wandered,  at  inter 
vals  it  returned  to  the  burden  of  a 
E  65 


TWO   GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

single  strain — the  harvesting.  Tow 
ards  daybreak  he  took  it  up  again 
for  the  last  time  : 

"  O  boys,  boys,  boys  f  If  you 
don't  work  faster  you  won't  finish 
the  field  to-day.  Look  how  low 
the  sun  is !  ...  I  am  going  to  the 
house.  They  can't  finish  the  field 
to-day.  Let  them  do  what  they 
can,  but  don't  let  them  work  late. 
I  want  Peter  to  go  to  the  house  with 
me.  Tell  him  to  come  on.".  .  . 

In  the  faint  gray  of  the  morning, 
Peter,  who  had  been  watching  by 
the  bedside  all  night,  stole  out  of 
the  room,  and  going  into  the  garden 
pulled  a  handful  of  pinks — a  thing 
he  had  never  done  before — and,  re- 
entering  the  colonel's  bedroom,  put 
them  in  a  vase  near  his  sleeping 
face.  Soon  afterwards  the  colonel 
opened  his  eyes  and  looked  around 
him.  At  the  foot  of  the  bed  stood 
Peter,  and  on  one  side  sat  the  phy 
sician  and  a  friend.  The  night- 
66 


THE    YEARNING   PASSED   A  WAV 

lamp  burned  low,  and  through  the 
folds  of  the  curtains  came  the  white 
light  of  early  day. 

"  Put  out  the  lamp  and  open  the 
curtains,"  he  said,  feebly.  "  It's 
day."  When  they  had  drawn  the 
curtains  aside,  his  eyes  fell  on  the 
pinks,  sweet  and  fresh  with  the 
dew  on  them.  He  stretched  out 
his  hand  and  touched  them  caress 
ingly,  and  his  eyes  sought  Peter's 
with  a  look  of  grateful  understand 
ing. 

"  I  want  to  be  alone  with  Peter 
for  a  while,"  he  said,  turning  his 
face  towards  the  others. 

When  they  were  left  alone,  it  was 
some  minutes  before  anything  was 
said.  Peter,  not  knowing  what  he 
did,  but  knowing  what  was  coming, 
had  gone  to  the  window  and  hid 
himself  behind  the  curtains,  draw 
ing  them  tightly  around  his  form  as 
though  to  shroud  himself  from  sor 
row. 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

At  length  the  colonel  said, "  Come 
here !" 

Peter,  almost  staggering  forward, 
fell  at  the  foot  of  the  bed,  and, 
clasping  the  colonel's  feet  with  one 
arm,  pressed  his  cheek  against 
them. 

"  Come  closer !" 

Peter  crept  on  his  knees  and 
buried  his  head  on  the  colonel's 
thigh. 

"  Come  up  here  —  closer;"  and 
putting  one  arm  around  Peter's 
neck  he  laid  the  other  hand  softly 
on  his  head,  and  looked  long  and 
tenderly  into  his  eyes.  "  I've  got 
to  leave  you,  Peter.  Don't  you  feel 
sorry  for  me  ?" 

"  Oh,  Marse  Rom !"  cried  Peter, 
hiding  his  face,  his  whole  form 
shaken  by  sobs. 

"  Peter,"  added  the  colonel  with 
ineffable  gentleness,  "if  I  had  serv 
ed  my  Master  as  faithfully  as  you 
have  served  yours,  I  should  not 
68 


THE    YEARNING   PASSED  AWAY 

feel  ashamed  to  stand  in  his  pres 
ence." 

"  If  my  Marseter  is  ez  mussiful 
to  me  ez  you  have  been — " 

"  I  have  fixed  things  so  that  you 
will  be  comfortable  after  I  am  gone. 
When  your  time  comes,  I  should 
like  you  to  be  laid  close  to  me.  We 
can  take  the  long  sleep  together. 
Are  you  willing  ?" 

"  That's  whar  I  want  to  be  laid." 

The  colonel  stretched  out  his 
hand  to  the  vase,  and  taking  the 
bunch  of  pinks,  said  very  calmly: 

"Leave  these  in  my  hand;  I'll 
carry  them  with  me."  A  moment 
more,  and  he  added : 

"  If  I  shouldn't  wake  up  any 
more,  good-bye,  Peter !" 

"  Good-bye,  Marse  Rom  !" 

And  they  shook  hands  a  long 
time.  After  this  the  colonel  lay 
back  on  the  pillows.  His  soft,  sil 
very  hair  contrasted  strongly  with 
his  childlike,  unspoiled,  open  face. 
69 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

To  the  day  of  his  death,  as  is  apt  to 
be  true  of  those  who  have  lived 
pure  lives  but  never  married,  he  had 
a  boyish  strain  in  him  —  a  softness 
of  nature,  showing  itself  even  now 
in  the  gentle  expression  of  his 
mouth.  His  brown  eyes  had  in 
them  the  same  boyish  look  when, 
just  as  he  was  falling  asleep,  he 
scarcely  opened  them  to  say: 

"  Pray,  Peter." 

Peter,  on  his  knees  and  looking 
across  the  colonel's  face  towards  the 
open  door,  through  which  the  rays 
of  the  rising  sun  streamed  in  upon 
his  hoary  head,  prayed,  while  the 
colonel  fell  asleep,  adding  a  few 
words  for  himself  now  left  alone. 

Several  hours  later,  memory  led 
the  colonel  back  again  through  the 
dim  gate -way  of  the  past,  and  out 
of  that  gate -way  his  spirit  finally 
took  flight  into  the  future. 

Peter  lingered  a  year.  The  place 
went  to  the  colonel's  sister,  but  he 
70 


THE    YEARNING  PASSED   AWAY 

was  allowed  to  remain  in  his  quar 
ters.  With  much  thinking  of  the 
past,  his  mind  fell  into  a  lightness 
and  a  weakness.  Sometimes  he 
would  be  heard  crooning  the  burden 
of  old  hymns,  or  sometimes  seen 
sitting  beside  the  old  brass -nailed 
trunk,  fumbling  with  the  spelling- 
book  and  The  Pilgrim  s  Progress. 
Often,  too,  he  walked  out  to  the 
cemetery  on  the  edge  of  the  town, 
and  each  time  could  hardly  find  the 
colonel's  grave  amid  the  multitude 
of  the  dead. 

One  gusty  day  in  spring,  the 
Scotch  sexton,  busy  with  the  blades 
of  blue -grass  springing  from  the 
animated  mould,  saw  his  familiar 
figure  standing  motionless  beside 
the  colonel's  resting  -  place.  He 
had  taken  off  his  hat  —  one  of  the 
colonel's  last  bequests  —  and  laid 
it  on  the  colonel's  head-stone.  On 
his  body  he  wore  a  strange  coat  of 
faded  blue,  patched  and  weather- 
71 


TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  KENTUCKY 

stained,  and  so  moth-eaten  that  parts 
of  the  curious  tails  had  dropped  en 
tirely  away.  In  one  hand  he  held 
an  open  Bible,  and  on  a  much-soiled 
page  he  was  pointing  with  his  finger 
to  the  following  words : 

"  I  would  not  have  you  ignorant, 
brethren,  concerning  them  which 
are  asleep." 

It  would  seem  that,  impelled  by 
love  and  faith,  and  guided  by  his 
wandering  reason,  he  had  come 
forth  to  preach  his  last  sermon  on 
the  immortality  of  the  soul  over  the 
dust  of  his  dead  master. 

The  sexton  led  him  home,  and 
soon  afterwards  a  friend,  who  had 
loved  them  both,  laid  him  beside 
the  colonel. 

It  was  perhaps  fitting  that  his 
winding-sheet  should  be  the  vest 
ment  in  which,  years  agone,  he  had 
preached  to  his  fellow  -  slaves  in 
bondage ;  for  if  it  so  be  that  the 
dead  of  this  planet  shall  come  forth 
72 


THE  YEARNING  PASSED   AWAY 

from  their  graves  clad  in  the  trap 
pings  of  mortality,  then  Peter  should 
arise  on  the  Resurrection  Day  wear 
ing  his  old  jeans  coat. 
73 


THE   END 


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